• Early Life & Training: Born in Provo, Utah into an artistic pioneer family, Fairbanks demonstrated prodigious skill at age 12 by modeling a prize-winning clay rabbit. He pursued formal training at the Art Students League in New York under James Earl Fraser, studied in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts, Académie Colarossi, and Grande Chaumière, and later honed his craft in Florence, Italy, on a Guggenheim Fellowship.
• Academic & Anatomical Mastery: Fairbanks earned a BFA from Yale University (1925), an MFA from the University of Washington (1929), and both an MA (1933) and a Ph.D. in Anatomy (1936) from the University of Michigan Medical School. His surgical dissections directly informed his classical sculpturing and teaching methodology.
• Educational Leadership: He served as a faculty member at the University of Oregon and the University of Michigan (Institute of Fine Arts). In 1947, he was appointed founding Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the University of Utah, where he built expansive studio programs and trained generations of artists.
• Major Monuments & Industrial Design: His monumental oeuvre encompasses dozens of public works, including Lincoln the Frontiersman (Hawaii), The Great Chicago Lincoln, Lincoln the Friendly Neighbor, the Ninety-First Division Monument (Fort Lewis), the Winter Quarters Memorial (Nebraska), and statues of Dr. Marcus Whitman and Esther Morris in the U.S. Capitol’s National Statuary Hall. In industrial design, he sculpted iconic automotive radiator ornaments for Chrysler, notably the Dodge Charging Ram and the Plymouth Winged Mermaid.
• Family & Lasting Legacy: Married to Maude Fox in 1916, he raised eight sons and two adopted daughters from Greece. His family actively participated in his studio and foundry operations. He continued sculpting vigorously into his late eighties, completing his colossal Lincoln the Legislator in Italian marble before passing away in Salt Lake City shortly before his 90th birthday.
